On April 17 at the Santa Barbara Foundation’s Person of the Year Awards, Jim Morouse and Peter Schuyler were honored for their extraordinary voluntary service. More than 300 guests came out for the tribute, including dozens of nonprofit leaders and many philanthropists, community activists, and elected officials.
Morouse, with decades of global marketing experience, has taught at Westmont College, UCSB, and Leading from Within, the latter of which trains community leaders. He chaired the Lobero Theatre’s Encore! Capital Campaign and the boards of Westmont Foundation and Santa Barbara Foundation (SBF).
Leading from Within Founder and Interim Executive Director Ken Saxon thoughtfully presented Morouse with the award, pointing out attributes that make Morouse an extraordinary leader, including one of the best strategy and marketing minds he’s ever encountered, which has enabled Morouse to help organizations become more innovative and impactful. This has included SBF, where he was a “transformational chair.” Saxon lauded Morouse’s talents as a teacher, saying, “He’s very simply one of the best,” and pointed to his human qualities, which emanate while he skillfully leads: being kind, appreciative, and humble; introducing goofy fun; and otherwise making service a joyful experience.
Schuyler has advanced environmental causes for decades, including as co-chair of the Foothills Forever campaign, which raised $18.6 million from thousands of donors in 90 days to preserve the San Marcos Foothills. Schuyler chaired the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden’s (SBBG) $4 million Backcountry Campaign; served as board chair of SBBG and the Environmental Defense Center; and was on the boards of the Community Environmental Council, Fairview Gardens, and the Midland School. He regularly volunteers his time to search for rare plants and lead educational trips on Santa Cruz Island.
Professionally, Schuyler was the director of the Santa Cruz Island Preserve for The Nature Conservancy, head of Natural Area Reserves program in Hawai‘i, and director of ecological restoration for the Santa Catalina Island Conservancy.
Community Environmental Council CEO Sigrid Wright delivered a heartwarming tribute to Schuyler, with anecdotes from his youth evincing his curiosity, resourcefulness, and deep connection to nature. Calling Schuyler unflappable, solid, and tough, Wright emphasized Schuyler’s deep commitment to serve environmental causes, including working for decades to successfully get three species delisted from the Endangered Species List and working to build back the S.B. Botanic Garden after the Jesusita Fire.
In preparing her remarks, Wright related, “I had the odd and unshakeable feeling of observing a wild animal in its habitat” and posited a few likenesses, including a beaver, “doing the extraordinary behind-the-scenes work that most people don’t realize until the landscape is just transformed … or a mountain lion — silent for long stretches, just taking it all in. Only the eyes moving. Twitch of the tail. Tracking everything. Patient and persistent. Or a polar bear — impervious to external conditions…. It’ll be cold and wet and, by every measure to most humans, miserable. Everyone else is bundled in fleece and Gore-Tex. Peter is in a T-shirt and shorts…. Peter lives softly and gently, but he doesn’t live small. He approaches life with curiosity, for the adventure of it, knowing when he initiates some big, hairy, audacious goal that he may not see the ending. Or may fail entirely. But as he once told me: ‘I know what will happen if we don’t do it. What will happen if we do?’”
Schuyler’s father, Barry, was a UCSB professor who helped launch its Environmental Studies Department. His mother, Jean, was a big philanthropist and activist who also received this award.
Morouse and Schuyler were selected by previous recipients of the award, with input from nonprofit leaders. Nominations are sought from the general public through myriad channels.
Last year, SBF awarded $6.3 million in discretionary funds to S.B. County-based nonprofits. It awarded another $21.8 million in donor-directed grants to nonprofits, 70 percent of which were based in Santa Barbara County. SBF’s most recent reports: The State of Nonprofits in Santa Barbara County, the Housing Affordability Report, and SBF’s 2024-2028 Strategic Roadmap, are available here https://sbfoundation.org/news-events/county-connections/.
